The Hand Of The Diligent

Minister:
Date: PM
Text: Proverbs 10:4
Psalters: 229, 415, 393, 36
  1. The antithesis condemned.
    1. The slack hand arises from the sluggard/slothful who is dis-inclined to work, habitually lazy.
      1. He wants to live by wishing instead of working (21:25).
      2. The sluggard loves sleep as an escape from work (6:6-11; 19:15; 20:13).
      3. His unwillingness to work is shown in his seeing real or imagined difficulties which make work impossible (22:13; 26:13).
    2. God’s view of such is seen in the following descriptions.
      1. The sluggard is filled with conceit, believing what he wants to believe (26:16).
      2. Closely related, the slothful is a fool, i.e., ‘void of understanding” (24:30).
      3. God often equates the idleness of the sluggard with drunkenness, adultery, and the lying tongue.
      4. Generally, those slothful in their God-given job are also slothful spiritually.
    3. The sluggard pays a price for his sloth.
      1. He desires (dreams) but it often ends in frustration because he does not work (13:4).
      2. The sluggard is often denied advancement (12:24).
      3. He that is slack in his work is equated to those who “waste,” i.e., those who corrupt, destroy or pervert (18:9).
      4. And the sluggard often finds himself on the path to poverty (6:11; 20:30-34).
  2. The “diligent” is someone who is sharp, and ready to work.
    1. God commends and commands diligence when He expresses judgments on the character of the sluggard.
    2. The diligent is advanced in position (12:24).
    3. The diligent puts forth effort even as he is aware that it is God’s blessing which makes one rich (22).
    4. We must shine as lights in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation (Phil. 2:14). This is antithetical living.
    5. The fear of Jehovah must fill us and control us; the fear of Jehovah is only by faith in Jesus Christ.